Criterion Games is a shadow of its former self. A majority of the developers from the studio have been transplanted into Ghost Games to focus on the continued development of the Need for Speed franchise. Now it's in an even worse state as it was confirmed this morning that co-founders Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry have left the company.

The two have formed a new games company according to a tweet from Alex shortly after the news broke. While the studio, if it is indeed a development studio, has yet to be named both Alex and Fiona have made comments about how excited they are about their upcoming projects.

It must have been an impossible decision to leave Criterion for both Alex and Fiona. They've each dedicated a large portion of their lives to the company and the games they've created together. That's five Burnout titles, two Need for Speed games and more. Having moved on they're leaving those brands behind. Those properties are owned by EA now. It's difficult to imagine a Burnout being made without these two helping to create it.

Best of luck to both Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry in the future. Hopefully they continue to make great games together and I know there's an audience that will certainly follow them in whatever direction they take. Same goes to Criterion. Today marks a new day at the studio and the best of luck to those who remain. Keep making games and let your community ultimately decide what Criterion means going into the future.

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It's kind of a shame to see what's happened to Criterion, but also encouraging if it works out for the best I suppose. Burnout 2 was the first Criterion game I played from what I remember and I was blown away. Burnout 3 and Black were equally astonishing, and let's not forget the impact that their RenderWare software had on PS2 era gaming. Massive titles such as the GTA series simply wouldn't have been possible without it. Even more recently, I thought the Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit reboot in 2010 was among the best racing games I've ever played, and there's no doubting the talent of the team that put it together, and you can see its legacy going back a dozen years or more. If this is the move they had to make to give them the freedom they need for a new project then I wish them all the best. I just hope their ability to make a game that fulfils their potential isn't diminished by the whole situation where EA have obviously wielded a lot of power.

Good companies collapse why bad companies continue, and continue to swallow up smaller studies and absorb them into making games that are just franchises. EA have far too much power and influence in the industry yet it seems impossible to avoid their games at some point, either as developer or publisher. Unfortunate on those genuinely good developers who want to take pride in their work, being stuck on games that don't challenge their creativity either.

Hope they have good luck with their new company. They should call their studio 'Unnamed Games'